Daily Rituals
It's taken me a good decade to figure out healthy(ish) habits as a freelance filmmaker.
Have you read the book Daily Rituals?
It’s a fascinating look into the working lives of artists of all ilk — writers, filmmakers, painters, composers. How do their ideas get from their heads to the page, canvas, etc? There’s not much to it but sitting down and doing the work.
Some work in the early morning (Toni Morrison), some at 2am, some hungover (Toulouse-Lautrec) or lying down (Voltaire). Long walks seem to be helpful to artists, as do socializing and relaxing. I’ve embraced the trend that no one seems to work on their art for more than 6 hours a day — and most for just 3 or so.
“Be regular and orderly in your life, like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” - Gustave Flaubert
This is my Daily Ritual, when I am home:
8am: Try to wake up (usually unsuccessful here) and try to exercise (I’m improving here)
10am - 1pm: Work on personal film projects, whether that’s writing, editing, producing, while listening to vibey electronic music or reggaeton.
1-2pm: Eat lunch and go for a walk with Ryan
2pm - 6pm: Work on *things that pay me money*, like commercial jobs, work pitches, administration, emails. Or, if there’s nothing to take care of, go back and jam on the personal art projects.
Plenty of things interrupt my scheduling utopia, like myself, work calls, doctor’s appointments, myself. But this is what I make my best efforts to stick to. It’s also a psychological mind game I play with myself, to feel like I’ve scheduled time to accomplish everything and keep the anxiety at bay. Back in the day (in my 20’s) I had no schedule, I’d be up to 2am working, sleeping late, and it made me feel bad about myself. The idea that taking a break would actually help the work hadn’t occurred to me yet!
